House rewiring and home wiring in Lockport, IL
Knob-and-tube out of a Fairmont bungalow, aluminum branch circuits made safe in a 1970 ranch, the finished basement roughed in, a 50-amp circuit to the hot tub. New wiring in conduit, permitted, with the drywall kept as whole as the house allows.
Every electrician we send to a Lockport address holds a license from an Illinois licensing-and-testing community, is registered with the City of Lockport Building Department, and carries the City's required bond and liability coverage. Permits are pulled for the work that needs them.
Get a wiring estimate
Tell us the year of the house, what is being added or replaced, and whether the basement is finished. Rewires get a walk-through before the number.
Prefer the phone? (815) 524-0195. Say what tripped, what you want added, or what the inspector wrote up.
Wiring jobs, by the house
Knob-and-tube in the pre-1930 houses
Fairmont, the streets up on the bluff around State and Hamilton, the farmhouses the subdivisions grew around. Cloth-covered wire on ceramic knobs, no ground, splices soldered and taped in the attic. A full rewire runs $12 to $20 a square foot, so $18,000 to $30,000 for a typical 1,500 square foot house, and it can be staged: kitchen and bath circuits first, bedrooms next, the attic last.
Aluminum branch circuits, 1965 to 1973
The later ranches and split-levels west of downtown. The wire is fine; the connections at outlets and switches are what loosen and heat. The fix is a listed connector at every device and splice, house-wide, in a day or two, not a rewire.
The finished basement
Half of Lockport's new wiring is a basement being finished: a family room, a bedroom with its own circuit, a bathroom with a GFCI and a fan, the sump and the ejector on dedicated circuits, recessed lights. It is done in conduit, permitted, and inspected at rough before the drywall goes up. A subpanel in the basement is often the cheapest way to land it all.
Dedicated circuits
A 20-amp circuit for the garage freezer, the sump, the microwave, the window unit, the workshop: $350 to $800 each from a panel with room. A 240-volt receptacle for a dryer, a range or a welder: $400 to $900.
Hot tubs and outdoor circuits
A 50-amp GFCI circuit to a spa disconnect, in conduit, with the bonding the inspector checks: $700 to $1,500. Outdoor receptacles, a detached-garage feed, the shed on the acreage lot.
Surge protection
A whole-house surge protector at the panel, $350 to $700, is the cheapest insurance for the furnace board, the fridge and the charger against the summer storms that roll across the prairie.
Conduit, because this is the Chicago area
Chicago and its suburbs wire in EMT conduit where the rest of the country uses plastic-sheathed cable. It takes longer to install and it is easier to live with for fifty years: a damaged run is pulled and replaced without opening the wall, and a future circuit rides an existing run. Lockport's inspectors expect it, and the estimate is priced for it.
Small additions, one fan or one outlet, live on the small jobs page.
Wiring questions from Lockport
Does knob-and-tube have to come out?
Not by law, but by insurer. Most carriers writing policies in Will County will not insure a house with active knob-and-tube, and a buyer's lender will ask. Intact knob-and-tube in an open attic is not dangerous on its own; buried in blown insulation with a 1990s addition spliced onto it, it is. The electrician maps what is live and quotes the rewire in stages if the budget needs it.
My house has aluminum wiring. Is it a rewire?
Usually not. Aluminum branch circuits from 1965 to 1973 are made safe with listed connectors at every device and splice, a smaller job than a rewire. A full rewire is the answer only if the runs are damaged or the house is being opened up anyway.
Can you rewire without tearing up the walls?
Mostly. Fishing conduit through finished walls in a two-story is slow, careful work and there will be a few access holes, patched by a drywaller. In the older houses with a basement below and an attic above, most runs go up and down without opening the walls at all.
What does a hot tub circuit need?
A 50-amp GFCI circuit in conduit to a disconnect within sight of the tub, at least five feet from the water, and bonding of the tub and the surrounding metal. It is a permitted job and the inspector looks at the disconnect and the bonding. Rates has the range.
How long does a whole-house rewire take?
One to two weeks for a whole house, room by room, so you can stay in it.